Unemployment rate down on Treasure Coast

Despite a couple of mass layoffs in September in St. Lucie County, the county's unemployment rate fell by six-tenths of a percentage point to 11.7 percent, according to data released Friday by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Jobless rates also fell in Indian River and Martin counties, so the combined rate for the Treasure Coast dropped to 11.0 percent from 11.5 percent the previous month.

Unlike some months when the unemployment rate fell because of a shrinking workforce, the jobless rate was lower in September because the number of Treasure Coast residents with jobs increased by almost 3,300, with only about one-third of those people having been considered unemployed the previous month.

With 58 of Florida's 67 counties showing lower jobless rates in September, the state's seasonally adjusted rate declined to 8.7 percent, which was 1.7 percentage points lower than a year ago. It was Florida's 22nd consecutive month of year-over-year declines in the jobless rate.

Based on results of the monthly telephone survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were an estimated 27,642 Treasure Coast residents without a job in September who were actively seeking work. That was about 1,000 fewer than the previous month and about 5,000 fewer than a year ago.

Whether a person is eligible for or receiving unemployment compensation or other benefits is not a factor in whether that person is counted among the unemployed.

Last September, the Treasure Coast's unemployment rate also fell more sharply from the previous month than the statewide rate fell, but it was as much because people left the Treasure Coast's workforce as it was more people with jobs.

Though St. Lucie and Indian River counties still had the third- and fourth-highest unemployment rates among Florida's 67 counties, only four other counties had sharper declines in September.

Larry Pelton, president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County, speculated that the Sept. 7 layoffs of nearly 350 workers by Digital Domain Media Group had minimal effect on the county's unemployment rate because "many of them moved here from all over the country and were the most mobile, so they were in high demand."